Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-09-08

for complete support of all the bodily
| functions. 1t is the farmers great bles-
sing, and he is an unwise man who de-
stroys good sod unless he is sure of
better return. / have said the pillow was
the farmers most costly implement, and
I now add, it may be damaging one. It
surely is if he Uses it in reckless man
ner In destroying the green sward. My
father taught me, when boy, not to turn
over wet spot in the field where a good
crop of grass would grow, as nothing was
more profitable. I believe this, and do
not turn over field of grass until it be-
gins to run out.
On the grass is the place for SOW to
have her young, and if they were allowed
this chance to get into condition to bear
young, the loss would be but a trife.
When the pigs are born out CT season
Chat is, in cold weather), fully one-third
are lost, taking one year with another.
Such pigs cost oue-fourth more to get
started than pigs born in warm weather.
1t is case in simple arithmetic to figure
the comparative value of the two sets of
pigs when ready for slaughter at the be-
ginning of cold weather. 1t is true, pigs
sell by the POUND, aud the Oldest ones
should bring the most money; but with
tions of consequent loss. With pigs born
in warn. weather there Is gain from the
start on the cheapest food, and no loss to
charged to the living pigs for the dead
ones, and for the loss in sows, which.
take the country through is quite per-
centage of the whole number. When we
undertake to keep pigs for profit, all
these things must be taken into account
| Thav J,onst ha t1rpad off In, rr,,
or the percentage of food, as to gain, in
cold weather, will rapidly cut down the
profits.
To explain: farmer may have pen
of pigs which have been made on the
cheap foods of summer, with its favor
able conditions, a profitable gain; but
not satisfied with their size or the price
in market or both, he keeps them on
until midwinter, with expectations of
greater weight and a better price. The
cold pen, cold food and cold air neutra-
lie the effects of what they eat and they
| really do not make any gain. The fresh
meat shipments from the far West nova
days do not admit of any scarcity in the
| markets of the East, and there is no gain
in price, and pigs do not bring any more
in April than they do in December in the
chief markets. Such feeding can only
result in loss-food thrown away, with
only gain of the manure. In the West,
where corn is plentiful, there is not so
close margin; but even there, there is
no such percentage of gain as there is in
warm weather.
Where great many hogs are kept it
may be best to keep some later in the
season, but the Western man makes the
| most on the hogs fattened and turned
off before winter. When hogs are fed all
of corn they will eat they will gain in cold
weather for the corn is the fuel and the
hog the burner to transform it into heat.
! If the burner" consumes more than
enough for its use to keep in action, some
of the results, mostly fat, will be deposit
| ed within the body.
johnson Potter, a veteran farmer,
| agrees with me that May is early enough
for pigs to be born, and that more money
can be made out of May pigs than from
those born earlier. He is right, and
besides, world of trouble can be saved.
The profit does not come from the weight
but the comparison of the size with the
cost and labor.
There must be limit to the time of
feeding pigs, Or even old hogs, all the
corn they will eat. Old hogs will stand
it longer, but in the end they will break
down. The dent corn is a lighter food
than the flint, and can be fed longer, but
ground or ungrOund, an exclusive feed
ing of clear corn will in time ruin any
hog; but some will endure it longer than
others. I fouad this out years ago.
man who does not take any agricul-
tural paper, partially from a notion that
he knows as much as them book fellers,"
fed pen of ten pigs thisayear. He had
lot of old flint corn ground, and when
they were about eight months old, hav-
ing kept them up to this time in milk, he
began giving them all the corn meal they
would eat. They ate it freely, for hogs,
and in fact all animals, are very fond of
corn meal. They grew very fast, and the
owner was thinking that by New Years
he would beat the town with his pigs,
when all at once they refused to eat and
would not leave the nest.
1t was found that they were foundered,
and the result was that they had to be
turned out of the pen, and it took weeks
for them to get over it, and some never did.
Let it be remembered that this will
always be the case with any pen of hogs
fed long enough and kept congned.
When hogs have the run of field, it is
AoAOiy uAO SdoC ohdu 1lAOy Will grow 81
feverish as to be foundered all over. but
they will often get quite stiff. The corn
should be mixed with bran or oats, and
only half of the bulk of the food should
be of the corn, or carbonaceous sort.
Such fevered pork is not the thing to eat.
When hogs are fed all the corn meal they
will eat, one-third of it is wasted. If
farmers do not believe this, get a micro
scope and examine the excreta, and see
the corn meal in it undigested. It can
also be seen with the simple magnifer of
common sense.
GENERAL NEWS NOTES.
Mandate hnn